


Getting To The Bottom Of It

by KaliopeShipsIt



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Stiles, Bottom Derek Hale, Breaking Up & Making Up, Canon-Typical Violence, Deputy Stiles Stilinski, Derek is a Breeder, Derek is a sexy librarian, Dubious Consent, Good Peter, Hale Family Feels, Hurt Derek, Idiots in Love, Kidnapped Derek, Lack of Communication, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mpreg, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles, POV Stiles, Pregnant Derek, Pregnant Derek Hale, Talia Hale Makes Mistakes, Top Stiles Stilinski, Werewolves Are Not Known, but only briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 14:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14190552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliopeShipsIt/pseuds/KaliopeShipsIt
Summary: When Deputy Stiles Stilinski's new boyfriend Derek refuses to bottom for him, even though Stiles is one-hundred percent sure he secretly loves it, Stiles draws the wrong conclusions and their relationship implodes spectacularly.Little does he realize that Derek's refusal has nothing to do with toxic masculinity hang-ups or his trust in Stiles and everything to do with the fact that he's hiding two very furry secrets.Cue kidnapping, rogue Omegas, and life-changing revelations.





	Getting To The Bottom Of It

**Author's Note:**

> My family abandoned me over Easter (aka, I had to work and they did not, so they went traveling and I ... did not, haha), so I used my free-time in between (and the resurgence of my Derek!mpreg muse) to do a thing :). 
> 
> Also, it's been almost exactly two years since I wrote something from Stiles' POV (the last story from his POV was HumanMate.Com), so this was quite refreshing :). 
> 
> Enjoy, my lovelies! 
> 
> P.S: This summary took me longer than writing half of the fic, I swear to god.
> 
> P.P.S: I keep forgetting to put these disclaimers, haha, but here goes: 
> 
> Number 1: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of its characters. 
> 
> Number 2: Please do not put my stuff on Goodreads or any other such sites. This work is only intended for AO3

Stiles fell in love with Derek the grumpy librarian on a Tuesday.

Strictly speaking, he’d ogled him from afar for months before making his move, but up until that fateful Tuesday, not even Sandra Hill would have been inspired to write a romance based on their interactions.

That definitely said something, considering the fact that she’d written a whole series about an angel Viking vampire who might or might not have had a dick halo.

Up until that fateful Tuesday, Stiles had been reasonably sure that Derek hated him.

He wouldn’t have blamed him, honestly.

Stiles’ bad habit of over caffeinating while doing paperwork at the station and occasionally forgetting his ADHD medication had led to coffee stains on books, pens dropping and shattering the silence, and the occasional not-so internal monologue about gruesome case details.

Derek had been particularly angry with him when Stiles had muttered to himself that there was definitely something suspicious about the increase in mauled bunnies in the woods and little Suzie Norton had overheard and burst into tears.

Derek’s ears had been strangely red as he’d thrown Stiles out of the library that day, but Stiles had been too busy swooning over the image that was big, tall, and bearded Derek Hale comforting the little girl to truly pay attention.

Sure, Stiles could have acted like a true millennial and actually used the Internet at the station whenever he had to do some more involved research for a case, but he liked the little Beacon Hills library.

He liked the stacks that always smelled of old books, he liked to curl up in the little reading nook right next to the window during winter and let the sunshine warm him, and he never left without checking out a novel.

Going to the library had been his and his mother’s thing, up until she’d gotten too sick to leave the house, and Stiles had spent some of his happiest childhood memories in this place.

It made him sad, sometimes, since the place was a constant reminder of her, but it also made him feel calm and safe, just like his mother had always made him feel.

On the day Stiles fell in love with Derek, Stiles almost hadn’t gone to the library at all.

His last visit hadn’t gone … great.

It had been mortifying, in fact.

He’d been very tired after a long and frustrating day, during which his computer had crashed and lost him an almost finished case report and during which he’d had to answer to a domestic violence dispute call, which always left his stomach tangled up in painful knots.

He hadn’t needed to actually research anything, but he had been looking forward to checking out his mother’s favorite book, yearning for that connection to her after his long and horrible day.

However, when he’d entered the aisle with the fantasy novels, _The Neverending Story_ hadn’t sat in its usual spot. The bad feeling in Stiles’ stomach had gotten exponentially worse when he’d asked Derek how long the book was checked out and Derek had replied that it was actually missing.

If it had been any other book, Stiles might not have reacted as badly as he had, but it had been the copy that he’d checked out for his mother two days before she’d died, the copy from which he’d read to her while she’d struggled through her last twenty-four hours on Earth.

It had been the copy in which she’d left a hidden message, her initials written in tiny letters under the name of her favorite chapter.

It had been the most precious book in the entire library, in short, and even though Stiles had run out of the library as quickly as he could, he was reasonably sure that Derek had seen his tears.

As it turned out, Derek had definitely seen his tears and had first done some investigating and then some serious sleuthing.

Stiles would never know how exactly Derek had managed to track down the book from the vast abyss of lost library books in Beacon Hills, but when he showed up at the library a week after his little meltdown, Derek just handed the book to him, a bookmark placed inside it.

When Stiles opened the book at the bookmark with shaking fingers, his mom’s handwriting immediately jumped out at him and he gasped, eyes once more swimming.

“You sme… you looked so very sad. I figured this was very important,” Derek said quietly, looking like he wasn’t quite sure whether to hug Stiles or chastise him once again for making too much noise.

“Go on a date with me!” Stiles replied, not quite realizing what exactly he’d said until he looked up and noticed that Derek had gone stock-still, looking at him in shock.

“Oh shit! Uhm … or not?” Stiles asked, yearning for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him completely.

“Sorry that was … I mean … of course you don’t have to go on a date with me! In fact, forget I even asked. That’s what I’m doing. This is me, forgetting I even asked, I’ll just go and …”

“Yes!” Derek blurted out and when Stiles looked up the tips of the other man’s ears were once more flaming red.

“Yes?” he asked, not quite daring to hope.

Derek smiled, the first smile that Stiles had ever seen on his face.

Well.

That was a lie, because he’d seen Derek smile multiple times, usually at babies or small children tugging at his pants to ask him about a book.

Having that smile directed at him though?

It was so beautiful that he wanted to paint it, frame it, and sell it at a silent auction for a couple of million dollars, only to buy it back the next day because he couldn’t stand to part from such a masterpiece.

Stiles fell in love with Derek on a Tuesday and no one was particularly grumpy about it.

 

 

==============

 

 

Dating Derek Hale was, in many respects, the most intense, satisfying, and all-overall best experience of Stiles’ life.

Intense, because Derek came with a ridiculous large and overprotective family that seemed to find great delight in simultaneously judging and scaring the crap out of Stiles, for example while he was shopping for pop tarts at 3 in the morning.

Stiles also swore up and down that Derek’s uncle Peter had once followed him home from the station after Stiles had canceled dinner plans with Derek, because he’d been too tired after a double shift.

Derek had denied the accusation, but Stiles had definitely noticed Peter’s pleased grin when he’d gone over to have yet another awkward dinner at the Hale house the week after.

Dating Derek was incredibly satisfying, because underneath the grumpy exterior, shy secret smiles, and soft thumbhole Henleys was a surprisingly kinky little fucker waiting to worship at the altar of Stiles.

Derek’s tongue was a gift that kept on giving and his stubble scraping over sensitive skin had ruined Stiles for all men for the rest of his life.

He was attentive, seemed to be able to sniff out Stiles’ desires before he could get around to actually voice them, and he was scarily talented at finding Stiles’ prostate within the first three strokes, as if he’d spent his entire life in preparation for showing Stiles the path to paradise with his dick.

Many times, in many exciting places.

Also, Derek was insanely strong, which Stiles had found out three months into their relationship when Derek had snuck them into the library late at night, lifted him like he weighed nothing, pushed him against the wall, and then pounded into him in the middle of the young adult novel section.

However, the single best thing about dating Derek was that he made Stiles feel happy.

In fact, Derek was making Stiles feel achingly, tenderly, and almost unbearably happy on a daily basis.

Stiles had seen glimpses of his kindness, warmth, and affection when he’d visited the library before, usually when little kids were involved, but he hadn’t quite realized just how gentle and loving a man was hiding behind the gruff outer exterior.

That didn’t mean that he was a saint, of course. Instead of flat-out voicing his complaints Derek could passively-aggressively snark with the best of them when he was annoyed, his eyebrows became downright terrifying when he grew impatient, and he kept forgetting his dirty clothes at Stiles’ place, as if he was trying to somehow mark the territory as his.

However, Stiles was still very much in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, even after six months of dating, and while he figured that these things would start annoying him at some point down the line, right now he found them mostly adorable.

There was one thing, however, that bothered Stiles about their new relationship.

It wasn’t a big thing at all, more like a tiny drop of bad juju in an ocean otherwise filled with the glorious nectar of love.

Stiles stood by this metaphor, because he could do words very well and Scott could just keep his pained grimaces to himself, thank you very much.

The thing was – Stiles loved bottoming.

Loved it.

There was nothing like the sensation of Derek blanketing him with his entire body while he slowly moved inside of him.

Derek opening him up with his tongue and fingers, tiny little kitten licks alternating with nips against the sensitive skin of his inner thigh, a thick finger pushing inside him and rubbing just the right spot.

Derek pounding into him, the sound of his ball slapping against Stiles’ rear heady and almost drowned out by the breathless praises and groans.

The knowledge that _he’d_ made Derek lose control like that and reduced this calm and controlled man to a groaning, shivering, frantic puddle of lust.

Truly, there was nothing like it and Stiles loved it.

He did.

Except … he also loved topping.

Possibly even a little bit more than bottoming, if he was completely honest about it.

And he was finding himself increasingly hesitant to bring it up.

That in itself was a bit alarming, Stiles figured, since he’d never been shy about voicing exactly what he wanted in bed and trying to get his partners to explore new things with him.

With Derek, however, Stiles had no idea how to even begin, and part of that was due to the fact that his gorgeous boyfriend was sending out some seriously mixed signals on the matter.

They hadn’t really talked about who was going to top and who was going to bottom that first time.

It had been their third date and they had been watching _Call Me By Your Name,_ possibly because Stiles was a total cliché and had been trying to set the mood for where he had hoped the evening would go.

Derek had glanced at Stiles with some seriously hooded eyes during _that one scene_ and Stiles had been relieved to realize that penetrative sex was definitely on the table for them.

Which was not a given, mind you, since college had taught him that not every dude-appreciating guy was into anal, but he’d figured that no one who was fundamentally opposed to anal could look that hot and bothered by Timothee Chalamet doing unspeakable things to a peach.

So Stiles had lifted his eyebrows and Derek had pounced, for a lack of a better expression, big warm hands immediately worming their way into Stiles’ sweatpants and squeezing tightly.

Then, Derek had unceremoniously lifted him and placed him on his lap and Stiles had ground down, figuring that he was in for a glorious prostate pounding and feeling very much okay with it.

The sex had, in fact, been glorious.

Ten out of ten, would do Derek again.

The problem was, however, that in between that first time that Stiles had ridden Derek on his couch, the second time later that night when Derek had pounded into him with Stiles on his knees and sobbing incoherently into his pillow, and the third time the next morning, when Derek had roused him for sleepy morning sex and proceeded to slow-bone him softly and tenderly with unholy amounts of eye-contact, Stiles had somehow missed his opportunity to bring it up.

Granted, he could have brought up the idea of Derek bottoming the next time his boyfriend had come over, but Derek had sufficiently distracted him from any attempts at conversation by sinking to his knees and giving Stiles the blowjob of his life in the hallway of his apartment, all while playing with his ass and making Stiles see stars.

He could have mentioned that he was open to switching things up the next time, too, but Derek had grabbed him, flipped him over the moment the back of Stiles’ legs had connected with the bed, and then proceeded to eat him out so thoroughly that Stiles had come before Derek had even gotten his penis near him.

Stiles couldn’t even blame his brain for getting easily distracted in these situations, given that he was dating a sexy librarian who could have done nude-modeling on the side any day of the week and had the rude habit of not taking off his sexy librarian glasses when he was blowing Stiles.

However, when he’d tried to hint towards the issue while fully clothed, Derek had immediately deflected, his voice dropping an octave and his breath ghosting over Stiles’ ear as he’d leaned in to whisper some seriously dirty fantasy to him that had involved Derek fucking him into tomorrow and Stiles shooting come like a rocket.

Stiles had gotten the hint, then.

Derek was very clearly not into the idea of bottoming, so much so that he couldn’t even bring himself to talk about it.

And that was fine, really.

Well.

It wasn’t _fine,_ because Stiles was low-key concerned about what must have happened for him to be so skittish about the issue, but Stiles was going to respect his boyfriend’s boundaries.

He wasn’t particularly happy about not having that conversation, but he figured that, once Derek had become more comfortable with him, they might be able to revisit the issue.

Would he prefer it happening _before_ their wedding night?

Yes, obviously, because Stiles had a seriously sappy fantasy about slow-boning Derek on that special occasion that he very much hoped would happen one day.

Rose petals and scented candles included.

However, their sex life was great now, so Stiles decided he could wait a bit longer to bring it up.

Stiles might have slightly preferred topping, but he loved bottoming, too, and Derek had unholy stamina and was really good at making him see stars on the regular.

The problem with respecting Derek’s boundaries, however, was that the more they fucked, the more Stiles was becoming convinced that Derek … didn’t quite hate bottoming at all.

It was little things, mostly, but the little things kept adding up and Stiles didn’t know what to make of them.

For one, Derek loved getting a blowjob from Stiles, but his skin broke out into actual goose bumps and his legs started shaking every-time Stiles nuzzled against his balls and got too close to his taint.

He let out the most delicious groans whenever they were fucking face-to-face and Stiles somehow managed to grab his butt and squeeze, which was something that he tried to do as often as possible because Derek’s butt was highly squeezable and it would have been a travesty not to.

Also, he’d gotten hard more than once when they’d been in the kitchen and Stiles had snuck up on him from behind and wrapped his arms around him, not even humping against him just … pressing his groin against Derek’s butt.

The first time he’d noticed it he’d been sporting a semi hard-on and Derek’s head had dropped back the moment he’d made contact, exposing the soft skin of his throat just under where his stubble began.

Stiles had placed a soft kiss on the area and then let his hands drift down Derek’s chest, only to encounter the tip of Derek’s dick literally peeking out of his basketball shorts, already leaking with pre-come.

The second time he’d noticed it, Stiles hadn’t even been hard at all, he’d just wanted some snuggles when he’d plastered himself all over Derek’s back, his groin pushing against Derek’s ass.

However, Derek had let out a groan almost instantly and when Stiles had looked over his shoulder he’d gasped at the sight of Derek tenting his pants rather obscenely.

All of these things could have been completely coincidental.

Derek was clearly very sensitive and Stiles wasn’t looking that gift horse in the mouth at all, because a man who got aroused so quickly by _Stiles_ of all people was kind of a dream come true.

And yet, he couldn’t stop himself from fantasizing about just how sensitive Derek would be if Stiles _really_ got to play with his ass one day.

How much he was very likely going to love it.

How much Stiles himself was going to love making Derek feel good.

He’d jerked off to the fantasy multiple times already, feeling guilty afterwards every time.

Even though Derek had no idea what was thinking, respecting boundaries probably didn’t include masturbating to the very thing Derek’s actions strongly indicated he wasn’t into.

Derek’s body spoke a very different language, however, and Stiles had never been good at letting a puzzle go.

He wasn’t going to risk losing him over it though, so he was going to be patient.

And jerk off a lot in the meantime.

It was going to be fine.

 

 

=================

 

 

Stiles was exceptionally good at holding his liquor.

He took great pride in it, because most people who met him tended to assume he was a lightweight with the coordination of a baby giraffe.

What Stiles hadn’t anticipated, however, was that Derek’s father was clearly a bootlegger in disguise, meaning that he was currently incredibly drunk and heavily leaning on Derek, while the older man was trying to manhandle him into his Toyota.

“That was some really good stuff!” Stiles declared happily, throwing a wave towards the general direction of Derek’s dad and smacking his boyfriend right in the face.

Derek let out a growl, but he was not looking at Stiles, so Stiles figured he wasn’t too upset about the accidental punch.

“I _told_ you to label the damn bottles!” Derek growled, finally succeeding in lifting Stiles onto the passenger seat.

Even though his vision was presently blurry and double, Stiles could make out Derek’s father’s apologetic expression, as well as Talia Hale’s terrifying eyebrows, and Derek’s uncle Peter grinning like Christmas had come early.

They’d spent the evening at the Hale home, because Derek’s little sister Cora had come home from college for summer break and Derek had insisted Stiles be there for her welcome dinner.

Stiles’ grandparents had died many years ago and the few extended relations they had left were living all over the country, so Stiles didn’t quite the understand the Hale family’s deep-seated need for lavish family dinners and celebrations every time a member of the large clan returned from a trip, regardless of how long they’d been gone.

However, he found it rather charming to see Derek ruffling his baby-sister’s hair and wrapping her up in a bear-hug, as if he hadn’t seen her in years despite the fact that he’d just visited her in San Francisco as recently as the week before.

The Hales were a big family that seemed to genuinely like each other, even though Stiles was pretty sure that Talia Hale spent most of her time yelling at her youngest brother and sorting out his messes.

Derek’s family included his parents, his two terrifying sisters, a much younger set of twin-brothers that had apparently been quite a surprise, two sets of grandparents, four uncles, and five aunts, plus a whole army of loud-mouthed, exuberant cousins.

With the exception of Talia’s three oldest children, they were all living on the same multi-house compound deep in the woods and had apparently done so for generations.

Their children were almost all homeschooled and they kept to themselves, which was why Stiles had heard many stories of them actually being a secret cult when he’d been younger.

To be completely honest, Stiles wasn’t one hundred percent convinced they _weren’t_ a cult, yet, but whatever cult they belonged to, it was obviously one based on equality, mutual respect, and affection, for each other and for the nature surrounding them.

The Hales were also largely self-sufficient, grew most of their own food, and held chickens that were apparently very happy and laid some of the most delicious eggs Stiles had ever had the pleasure of eating.

Their children were very educated and well spoken, and even though some had rather mischievous streaks one word from Talia was usually enough to stop whatever shenanigans were currently happening.

Talia’s disciplinarian rule not only included Derek’s six-year old twin brothers, but also her nieces and nephews, who clearly adored their oldest aunt to the moon and back.

Talia had three brothers and two sisters and between the six of them they had 21 children that roamed the Hale grounds and whose names Stiles was still struggling to remember.

Derek’s uncle Peter was the youngest of them and the only one who was yet unmarried and had no children, but Talia’s twin-brother and his wife had three, another brother and his wife had four, her youngest sister and her husband had two but were apparently trying for a third, and their middle sister and her wife had adopted seven children.

Unfortunately for Stiles, almost all of the were under 18, meaning that the only other Hale offspring who was currently in a steady relationship was Laura, and Laura’s boyfriend Todd was already so well integrated into the Hale family that Stiles kept forgetting they weren’t married yet.

This meant that he had no one to commiserate with about how difficult it was to get the Hale family at large to accept him, despite their outwardly friendliness.

Stiles wasn’t one of the best deputies on the force for nothing, and he could clearly sense that he was still viewed as an outsider not to be trusted, even after six months of dating Derek.

Also, if the Hales were a cult then Derek’s momma was definitely the leader, and Stiles maybe feeling a little bit stressed about the fact that Talia Hale seemed to be one of his biggest critics.

Not that she was too obvious about it, of course. Instead, she was nice and polite to him, if maybe a bit distant, just like most members of Derek’s family.

Some of the younger children even seemed to genuinely like him and were particularly fascinated with his job, but the older children and the adults kept giving him suspicious looks when they thought he wasn’t paying attention.

Not to mention the fact that he’d suddenly started running into them in town in the strangest places and at the strangest hours, ever since he and Derek had made their relationship official.

They liked him well enough, he thought, but they were clearly waiting for him to hurt Derek and Stiles was torn about it.

On the one hand, he really wanted to know what had prompted all of this protectiveness so he could assure them he was worthy of dating Derek.

On the other hand, he really didn’t want to know, because he was almost convinced that Derek had had some rough luck with his prior relationships and since even the thought of Derek being mistreated was making him sick to his stomach, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answer.

Today’s dinner with the entire Hale clan had been particularly stressful, because even though most Hales seemed to secretly like Stiles against their will, Cora was decidedly not his biggest fan and she’d managed to get in five catty remarks before the appetizers had even been served.

Since he was off duty for the rest of the week, Stiles had decided to numb his nerves with Sebastian Hale’s delicious home-brewed beer, generously offered by a grinning Peter, and he’d already been on number two when he’d realized that he should have possibly stopped halfway into number one.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You knew you’d given him the wrong bottle, didn’t you?”

Derek’s voice was very angry and even though the words didn’t make sense to Stiles he reached out of the car window and patted Derek’s cheek, making little shushing noises.

Derek gave him a pained look but he calmed down, throwing another angry glare at Peter before he got into the car himself.

Derek was still muttering to himself when they pulled into the parking lot of Stiles’ apartment building, but he let out a soft sigh when Stiles reached over the console and grabbed his hand.

“I’m okay, don’t worry,” Stiles said, grinning at him and winking salaciously.

Derek raised his eyebrow in a show of epic judgment, though he couldn’t quite hide his own smile.

And he was actually okay, Stiles thought as he exited the car, this time without Derek’s help.

He was still feeling tipsy, but the air coming through the open car window had sobered him up enough to be able to almost one hundred percent move his limbs the way he wanted to.

“Today was nice. Thank you for taking me,” Stiles told Derek when they’d finally made it to the apartment and closed the door behind them.

Derek smiled back, his eyes sparkling brightly in the dim light of the early summer night, almost as if they were glowing golden.

“Thank you for agreeing to come with me. I know they’re a handful,” he said, nuzzling against Stiles’ nose when the younger man wrapped his arms around him.

“You’re worth it,” Stiles declared, feeling that his lingering tipsiness made such sappy declarations perfectly acceptable.

He tilted his head, searching for Derek’s mouth, and Derek chuckled against him, his lips warm and pliant and almost in Stiles’ reach.

“You sure? You were kind of drunk earlier,” Derek said, his voice giving way to a little gasp when Stiles reached around and grabbed his ass.

“Not that drunk anymore. Missed you so much!” Stiles declared, surging forward and claiming Derek’s mouth in a heated kiss.

“It’s been a while,” Derek said breathlessly as they parted, sounding both amused and also kind of horny.

The former, because they had had sex only two days ago and Stiles’ declarations of missing him were maybe, possibly, a bit ridiculous.

The latter, because Stiles’ long fingers were currently worming their way into the waistband of Derek’s pants and going by the look on his face Derek seemed to be very much on board with where this was heading.

“Too long,” Stiles decided, grinning against Derek’s lips and pinching his ass cheeks.

“Too long, too many clothes! Off, off!” he demanded, pulling his hands out of Derek’s pants so he could tug at the hem of Derek’s shirt.

Derek laughed, batting his hands away and pulling the shirt off in one fluid move that Stiles wouldn’t have managed even while fully sober.

He wasn’t complaining, though, because the view was breathtaking and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it.

He tugged off his own shirt quickly, pushing down his cargo shorts and underwear in one go and almost braining himself on the foot of Derek’s bed when he stumbled out of his flip-flops.

Derek started laughing again, even as Stiles tackled him onto the bed and more or less gracefully climbed on top of him.

He wasn’t hard yet, but Stiles was determined to make that happen sooner rather than later, and so he went straight for Derek’s neck, doing his best to suck a hickey into the skin.

He had quickly realized that Derek’s skin was both sensitive and completely impossible to mark, but Derek seemed to be very partial to Stiles’ best efforts to finally leave a hickey.

Stiles could feel him twitch between their bodies and suddenly all he wanted was to touch him and taste him, so he moved down Derek’s body, leaving kisses along the way until he reached his goal.

Derek was uncut, not as long as Stiles’ own dick but a bit thicker, and Stiles’ mouth watered in anticipation, his fingers trailing down the insides of Derek’s legs and patting them so the other man would bend his knees.

Derek complied, letting out a soft moan at the first lick to his cock, which was slowly stirring to attention.

Stiles’ fingers were itching to touch and so he did, trailing them up and down the sensitive skin of Derek’s inner thighs, curling through thick black hair.

Derek shifted on the bed, pushing up his ass a little.

His cock slipped out of Stiles’ mouth, now definitely half-hard, and Stiles wrapped his fist around and it and gave it a firm stroke, his own cock throbbing between his legs when he noticed the way Derek’s asshole was clenching at the stimulation.

If he’d been sober, he would have never even considered it.

He would have remembered that Derek’s asshole and Stiles’ fingers were as of yet unacquainted with each other and that introducing them would require a conversation that Derek had successfully avoided for the better part of half a year.

Now, however, cock aching between his legs and Derek moaning in front of him, Stiles’ memory was wiped blank, and he couldn’t help himself, bending forward almost in slow-motion and gently pressing the tip of his tongue against Derek’s asshole.

It was just the tip, nothing more, but Derek let out a sound that Stiles had never heard him make before, almost arching off the bed entirely.

“Stiles!” he ground out and Stiles licked right over him, a jolt running through him when Derek moaned loudly.

He wasn’t making a grab for Stiles’ head, wasn’t urging him away, and so Stiles kept going, digging his fingers into Derek’s thighs and spreading his legs while he kissed and licked, each breathtaking sound wringing itself out of Derek an incentive to keep going.

Derek was shaking, still making those amazing sounds, and when Stiles looked up the sight of Derek leaking pre-come all over his belly mesmerized him, his dick rock-hard and almost angrily red.

Emboldened, Stiles made a grab for the lube, slicking up his fingers good and watching Derek for signs he wanted him to stop as he began to trace circles around his rim.

However, Derek kept moaning softly, repeating “Please, please, please!” over and over.

Stiles had never been able to deny him anything and he wasn’t about to do it now.

When his first finger sunk in almost all the way to the knuckle, Derek dropped down, his body gone completely pliant.

Stiles sucked in a harsh breath at how amazingly he was opening up for him, as if they’d been doing it like this forever.

He added a second finger and Derek took it beautifully, gasping and panting and rocking his hips, urging Stiles on to give him more.

Derek threw back his head and whined when Stiles crooked his index finger just so, and when he rubbed over the spot again Derek let out a sound that almost sounded like a howl, as if he was an animal.

He’d thrown his arm over his face, panting and shaking, and Stiles wanted to see his eyes, but he also wanted to hear that sound again, so he kept stroking him, fingers scissoring as he bent down once more to lick over Derek’s dick.

“Stiles! Please! I … _please!_ ” Derek gasped and Stiles kissed the inside of his thigh, just to let him know he was in good hands, that he was going to take care of him.

The box of condoms was sitting on the bedside table and Stiles quickly made a grab for them, reluctant to keep his hands away from Derek for even a second.

He squeezed the base of his dick and thought of Coach Finstock as he rolled the condom down; reasonably sure that one more wanton moan from Derek could end this show before it had even begun.

“Stiles,” Derek whispered, still shaking, and Stiles lined himself up, pushing in as slowly as he could.

Derek was warm and tight around him, his thighs flexing against Stiles’ hips as he let out a sound that was nearly a sob.

Stiles began to move then, slow and easy at first, to give Derek a chance to get used to the sensation, but Derek had other ideas, pushing up his hips to meet him at every thrust.

“Stiles! More! I need … I want …” he groaned and Stiles lost his control for good, pace picking up as his thrusts became more and more erratic, the combination of Derek’s tight heat around him, the look of sheer bliss on his face, and the gorgeous sounds he was making too much for Stiles to truly make this last.

All of a sudden, Derek let out a howl, coming untouched between their bellies, and Stiles was gone, his eyes squeezing shut as he came.

He slumped down, paying no attention to the mess between their bodies, his ears feeling like someone had stuffed cotton into them.

Derek’s chest was rising and falling rapidly under him, his heartbeat thumping against Stiles’ chest, and Stiles focused on breathing, knowing he would have to pull out eventually but wanting to savor the moment.

Derek’s hands were carding through his hair, his fingers shaking a little, and Stiles turned his head, cheek resting against Derek’s heart.

“I love you,” he muttered, not noticing that Derek’s fingers in his hair faltered for the briefest of seconds.

It wasn’t until later, when they were spooning under the covers ready to fall asleep, that Stiles realized two very important things.

One, he’d never told Derek he loved him before.

Two … Derek hadn’t said it back.

 

 

===============

 

 

Things between them were different after and most of it was probably Stiles’ fault.

Taking advantage of the heat of the moment and getting Derek to bottom for him without at least talking about it and getting consent?

Probably not Stiles’ finest hour, for sure, no matter how obviously great it had been for both of them.

Telling him he loved him for the first time right after?

Total douchebag move, not even a question about it.

Feeling upset that Derek _still_ hadn’t said it back, even two weeks after the fact?

Totally uncalled for, given the situation, but the longer his boyfriend ignored the l-word shaped elephant in the room, the higher the chances got that Stiles was going to work himself into his first panic attack since high school.

Jerking his dick raw to the memory of Derek’s face when Stiles had first pushed into him and really, _really_ wanting to do it again?

Obviously, Stiles had a problem.

Or maybe Derek was the one with the problem.

Possibly, they both had a problem.

Stiles, because he couldn’t respect his boyfriend’s boundaries enough to ignore the fact that Derek was obviously pretending that he didn’t want to bottom, even though it was clear to everyone all the way to Mars that he loved it.

Derek, because he was either in complete denial and kink-shaming himself on the regular, or because he was possibly harboring some nonsensical and heteronormative ideas about gay sex that he should really work to overcome.

Stiles, again, because there was another possible reason for Derek’s obvious reluctance to bottom, even though he had obviously been born for it – trust.

Specifically, Derek’s apparent lack of trust in Stiles.

Stiles had always felt that bottoming for someone meant opening yourself up in the literal and metaphorical sense, an act that required at least a modicum of trust between partners.

Stiles himself had bottomed for two guys during college, and he’d only agreed to it after he’d been reasonably sure that they were going to prep his ass properly, that they were going to pay attention to him during the act, and that they weren’t going to tear him apart.

The fact that Derek didn’t seem to place that kind of trust in Stiles?

Total gut-wrencher right there.

If he’d been an adult about the situation, he would have sat Derek down and talked to him about it, putting on his big boy pants and using his big boy words.

Instead, Stiles chose the worst possible moment to have that conversation.

Or rather, his anxieties and insecurities chose the moment for him, bubbling out of him while they were both naked in Stiles’ bed and Derek had just made a grab for the lube and the condom, getting ready to roll it down his dick.

“Why won’t you ever bottom for me?”

Derek froze, literally froze, the lube dropping from his suddenly lax fingers as he stared at Stiles with wide eyes.

Stiles bit his tongue and waited breathlessly, wishing he could take back his words but knowing that he had to see it through now.

He held up his hands, hoping he looked sufficiently apologetic.

“Sorry that … that came out a bit too strong. I didn’t mean to be rude about it. It’s just that … I thought that … no, seriously, _why_?”

For a long, torturous moment Derek didn’t say anything, his eyes impossibly wide and making him look younger than he really was.

Finally, Derek closed his eyes, swallowing heavily, and when he opened them again Stiles could almost see the wall he’d built up between them, replacing the warmth that had been in the hazel orbs just seconds before.

“I don’t like it,” Derek said carefully, not looking at him.

It was Stiles’ turn to stare, his eyebrows climbing to his forehead as he began to jerkily shake his head.

“Yeah, right! I might have been a little drunker than usual two weeks ago, but I definitely remember that you liked it a fucking hell of a lot!”

Confrontational and condescending, _definitely_ not the right way to handle this, but Stiles hadn’t exactly prepared himself for Derek trying to play him for a fool and it hurt more than he knew how to deal with.

Derek inhaled sharply, his eyes glinting so brightly that Stiles once again thought he saw a flash of gold for the briefest of seconds.

“I don’t like it! I tried to pretend I liked it because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but I actually didn’t. Can we not talk about this anymore?”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest.

“You _pretended_ to like it? Really? Well then, you might want to consider changing careers and becoming an actor, because you could have seriously fooled me, what with the coming untouched and all that!”

Stiles took a deep breath, trying very hard to keep the bite out of his next words.

“Listen, if you don’t want to, you don’t want to! That’s fine! Obviously I’d like it if you explained to me why you’re so against it, even though you clearly enjoyed yourself that night, but I am going to respect your boundaries because I’m not an asshole! Just … don’t play me for a fool, alright? I don’t deserve that!”

Derek’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest as well, mirroring Stiles’ defensive position.

“I’m not playing you for a fool! I just told you the reason. I. Don’t. Like. It! We tried it once, it wasn’t great for me, I don’t want to do it again. Please drop it!”

“Yeah, well, no!” Stiles snapped, ignoring the part of him that was yelling at him to stop, that this had escalated way too quickly and that he needed to dial it down immediately.

“You’re lying to me and I want to know why!”

Accusations. Definitely not the way to dial it down and Stiles winced internally, even as a sudden burst of anger pulsed through him.

Derek seemed to be in wholehearted agreement.

“I’m not lying to you! Why the fuck would I lie to you about that! I just told you I don’t like it and you’re making a big deal out of it! What the hell, Stiles?”

“You bet I’m making a big deal out of it! You’re fucking lying to me! That is _not_ the real reason and you know it! Hell, you were there! You were the one who kept begging me for more, you loved it!”

He took a deep breath, barreling on, the words spilling out of him with no chance to contain them.

“You loved it, so there has to be a different reason! Either you’re some misogynist asshole who is against bottoming because you think that makes you a girl, or you just don’t trust me! And I don’t think you’re a misogynist asshole at all, because you were clearly raised in some weird-ass hippy matriarchy cult, which means that you don’t trust me! And that fucking sucks, Derek!”

“Cult?” Derek growled, literally growled, and if he’d been an actual animal his hackles would have been up.

“Not the point, Derek! So not the point right now! The point is that you clearly don’t trust me the way I trust you!”

This time, Derek flinched visibly, stopping Stiles in his tracks.

Derek’s entire expression still screamed anger, but there was also something that looked scarily like guilt.

It made the bad feeling in Stiles’ stomach grow exponentially worse, because he’d clearly hit a nerve with Derek.

He didn’t want to, but his brain went running with it, thinking back over the past six months and fitting together pieces of a puzzle he hadn’t even noticed was there.

Stiles had shared a lot with Derek.

He’d told him about his mom, he’d told him about his dad’s ongoing struggle with sobriety, and he’d laid bare his insecurities about his job.

He’d let Derek in, literally and metaphorically, but Derek hadn’t really done either.

Sure, he’d taken him to family dinners and shared some information about his childhood, but it was all generic, nothing truly unique or even really personal.

When they spent time together, it was nearly always at Stiles’ place.

Stiles could count the instances in which he’d seen the inside of Derek’s loft across town on one hand, and even then it had always been briefly, usually because Derek had forgotten to grab something.

Derek listened attentively, but he almost never shared, and it felt like a punch to the gut when Stiles realized that almost their entire relationship up until this point had been about him.

Stiles dominated their conversations, Stiles decided where they went for dinner, Stiles chose their movies, and Derek just went with it, doing almost everything Stiles wanted and smiling, as if the only key to his happiness was making Stiles happy.

Sure, Derek could get annoyed and impatient, but when he did, it was almost never at Stiles directly, and as a result things had been so harmonious between them that Stiles hadn’t even realized that something was missing.

Truly, the only area of their relationship in which Derek took control was the bedroom, and even that was very firmly focused on making Stiles feel good.

Of course Stiles had thought that Derek was opening up to him, sharing his fantasies about all the things he wanted to do to Stiles’ body, but now that he realized that Derek clearly wanted others to do things to _his_ body, it was clear as day that Derek had been holding back here, too, meaning that Stiles actually barely knew anything about him.

“Derek,” Stiles whispered, the fight going out of him all at once.

“Derek … do you trust me?”

Derek stared back, looking wounded, which Stiles really didn’t get at all.

“I … of course I trust you, Stiles.”

“Then why did you just look away from me? Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you trust me? Can you tell me that you’re not keeping secrets from me? Can you?”

Derek swallowed, but no sound came out, and Stiles exhaled sharply, suddenly feeling naked and exposed.

“You don’t trust me,” he said flatly, a statement, not an accusation.

Derek’s mouth was moving and he looked like he was in actual physical pain.

Still, not sounds came out, and it made the ache in Stiles’ chest grow unbearable.

“Wow. _Wow_! Okay. Alright then.”

The words were like shards of glass inside his throat and Stiles stubbornly willed himself not to cry.

He had no idea how things had gotten so bad so quickly and his belly churned nauseously, his ears ringing with the onset of a panic attack.

He’d always wondered about the peculiar nature of breakups, how couples could be fine and have sex one day and then break up the next, but it was clearly easier than he’d thought.

“I should go,” Derek said, his voice low and broken.

The fact that he wasn’t even trying to fight it spoke volumes to Stiles and so he nodded, rendered speechless by the searing deep inside his chest.

Stiles pushed his fist against his eyes; both to keep the tears from falling and to not have to watch the man he loved walk out of his life.

Then again, Derek obviously didn’t love him back.

It was probably for the best.

 

 

===============

 

Miserable.

Yearning.

Bereft.

Heartbroken.

There were many words in the dictionary to describe the state of Stiles’ heart and general well being, but coming up with more would have required extra energy that Stiles simply didn’t have.

It had been a month since the breakup, a month since he’d seen Derek last, and he missed him so much that he could barely breathe at times, let alone sleep or eat properly.

Instead, he kept throwing himself into work, spending more hours at the station than really necessary and only going home when the new Sheriff threatened to forcibly remove him and call his dad.

Going home meant facing his loneliness, meant having to look at the bed where he’d broken up with Derek, meant spending another uncomfortable night tossing and turning on the couch because his chest still seized up whenever he thought about actually sleeping in the bedroom again.

He wasn’t dealing well and people were noticing, but Stiles felt he was entitled to feel that way for a while.

After all, he’d just had his heart thoroughly broken.

If he’d learned anything from Hallmark movies then that it was completely normal to deal with it while sobbing into ice-cream containers on his couch.

On top of it all, Stiles still felt so bad about the way in which it had happened that he still hadn’t brought himself to actually tell his concerned friends what had led to the breakup in the first place.

Granted, the fact that Derek didn’t trust him and didn’t love him would have made the breakup inevitable sooner rather than later, but Stiles forcing the issue by getting hung up on Derek’s reluctance to bottom had not been his best moment.

Not to mention the fact that, in hindsight, they could have probably avoided this situation if they had had a discussion about that particular aspect of their relationship a lot sooner.

It was too late now, though, Stiles was pretty sure.

He was also sure that it was not normal to miss somebody this much.

Stiles sighed, declining yet another invitation for a friend’s night out from Lydia.

He was going to pick himself up soon enough.

He just … needed a bit more time.

 

 

================

 

 

“911, what’s your emergency?”

_“Holy shit! I think someone’s trying to kidnap the librarian!”_

“Sir, what is your location and what is going on?”

_“Shit, fuck, that must have hurt! You guys need to get here right now, someone just jumped the librarian from behind and now he’s dragging him towards a car and …”_

“Sir, I need you to calm down and give me your exact location. Where are you?”

_“I’m at the café across the library! The librarian just came out of there and was trying to close up when this crazy homeless guy jumped him from behind and started attacking him! It’s like a dog-fight man! I think the homeless guy is on drugs, too, his eyes are all glowy and shit!”_

“Sir, I need you to stay where you are and …”

_“Fuck, he just knocked him down and stuffed him into a trunk! This is sick, man, why would he …”_

“Stay where you are Sir, we’ll send someone out there right away. Can you describe the car for us?”

_“Red Subaru, really old, Texan license plate! Fuck, he just drove off, I couldn’t write down the number!”_

“Alright Sir, stay where you are, someone will be with you shortly. This is dispatch to all officers available, we just got a report that someone kidnapped the librarian in front of the library. Suspect is driving an old red Subaru with a Texan license plate and …”

_“Did you just say someone kidnapped my Derek?”_

“Deputy Stilinski you just got off duty and I really I don’t think that …”

 _“Fuck!_ ”

Stiles threw his half-eaten sandwich onto the passenger seat and slammed his foot on the gas pedal, peeling out of the McDonald’s parking lot like a madman.

He had run two red lights and his heart was trying to beat out of his chest by the time he pulled into the library parking lot, where a group of curious bystanders had already started gathering around the front steps of the library.

“Out of my way!” Stiles barked, pushing through the crowd and coming to a dead stop when he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the blood on the pavement.

“Derek!” he whispered, his hands balling into fists as he took deep, even breaths, trying not to succumb to his panic.

When he turned around he saw Deputy Parrish talking to a teenager with a snapback, his eyes wide and his face pale.

“Did you call us? What did you see, where did he take Derek?” Stiles demanded, marching up to the guy and clearly looking a bit deranged, if the kid’s flinch was any indication.

“Stiles, maybe you should sit this one out,” Jordan said gently, trying to pat his shoulder.

“Yeah, not a fucking chance!” Stiles snapped, turning towards the kid again.

“Tell me exactly what you saw! Then tell me in which direction they went!”

“It was fucking insane, man! The librarian had just locked up when this crazy person appeared out of nowhere and tackled him! He looked really rough, like he hadn’t taken a shower in forever! His clothes were all ratty, too, I think he was on drugs or something! They fought and I think the crazy guy was trying to bite the librarian’s face off at one point? It all happened so quickly! I’m not even sure what happened! Then the crazy guy threw some blue powder at the librarian and punched him in the head and the guy just went down! And then he just lifted him like he weighed nothing and just stuffed him in the trunk and drove off!”

“Where did they go?” Stiles demanded, trying not to let the panic seep into his voice.

The kid’s eyes widened even further, his hand shaking when he jerked his thumb to the left.

“That way. I think.”

“You think? You _think_?”

“Stiles!” Jordan interrupted, pushing a hand against Stiles’ chest and gently but firmly leading him away.

“I really think you should sit this one out. I know you and Derek Hale have a history and I don’t want you throwing yourself into danger because you’re too distracted.”

“I think the deputy is right, Stiles,” a new voice rang out, low and authoritative.

Stiles whirled around, only to come face to face with Peter Hale, this time without his characteristic smirk and looking, frankly, terrifying.

“Come with me, Stiles,” Peter said, steel in his voice.

He grabbed Stiles’ arm and all but dragged him away, steering him towards his jeep.

“The café owner called the house right after the kid hung up with 911 and I got here as quickly as I could. My siblings are still at work, but Talia should be getting here shortly. I figured you and me could get a head-start on finding Derek before she gets here and things get … messy.”

“What are you even talking about? How are we supposed to find Derek? I need to get back there, I need to figure out the exact direction in which they went, I …”

“What you need to do is the get in the car and trust me! I think I know where he took him,” Peter said, already opening the passenger door and throwing out the half-eaten sandwich on the seat.

“What? You know who this was? What’s going on here, why did he attack Derek, why …”

“I know exactly who took him and I also know why! Drive!” Peter barked, rolling down the window and holding out his head, sniffing as if he was trying to catch Derek’s scent like a dog.

Stiles stared at him for a moment, his worry for Derek’s safety momentarily overpowered by his confusion.

“Drive!” Peter growled and Stiles gripped the steering wheel tightly, backing up and then driving out of the parking lot as quickly as he could.

“Left!”

“But the guy said it was …”

“Left!” Peter snapped, once more holding his head out of the window.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going and what _the hell is going on?_ ” Stiles snapped back, speeding down a road that was going to take them into the eastern part of the woods.

Peter turned towards him with a calculating expression, his eyes glinting in the dim lights of the setting sun.

“He’s … a stray, you might say. He used to be part of a … uh … a large group of like-minded people, but he got kicked out for bad behavior. He came to see my family a week ago because he wanted to stay with us for a bit. Acted really friendly at first, but then he met Derek and … well … Talia had to throw him out quickly after that, because it was clear he was bad news. Apparently he didn’t take the rejection well. You have to turn right here.”

“What kind of freakishly weird cult _are_ you guys?” Stiles exclaimed, turning right and wincing when the road became rougher.

Peter’s lips twitched, a soft laugh punching out of him that belied the tension Stiles could see in the rigidness of the older man’s shoulders.

“Not a cult, Mr. Stilinski. It’s not important now, what matters is that we get to Derek quickly before … just drive, okay? Turn left here, we’re almost there, I can sm… we’re really close, I promise.”

Stiles wanted to ask a lot more questions, but the road was getting even rougher now, demanding all of his concentration to avoid breaking an axle.

“Stop the car!” Peter exclaimed all of a sudden and Stiles slammed his foot on the brake, taking a little pleasure in Peter’s annoyed grunt when he was jerked forward.

“Why? There’s nothing here!”

“We’re going to go the rest of the way on foot. He’ll hear us approach otherwise and there’s no telling what he’ll do then.”

Stiles glared at him, pulling out his gun.

“Where are we going, exactly?”

“Shhhh,” Peter hissed, looking tense and also impatient as he exited the car, turned to the left, and started marching.

Stiles followed him, his mind still yelling questions but his worry for Derek keeping him quiet for the moment, though his eyes never left Peter’s back.

They’d barely been walking for two minutes when Peter started slowing down and Stiles’ eyes widened when he noticed an abandoned cabin in the distance, a red Subaru parking right beside it.

His pace quickened and his grip on his gun tightened, but Peter managed to grab his shoulder as he passed him.

“Don’t just rush in there, you idiot! Didn’t they train you for this sort of thing at the academy?” he hissed, motioning for Stiles to follow him slowly and quietly.

They advanced together, Peter’s expression tightening with each step they took.

The cabin was run-down, clearly long abandoned, and one of the windows was bashed in, allowing Stiles to hear voices as they got closer.

He turned to Peter, ready to rush in there with his gun, but Peter shook his head and held his finger to his lips, nodding jerkily towards the window.

“… never! Let me go, or you’re going to regret it!”

Stiles’ whole body tensed at the sound of Derek’s voice, more guttural than he’d ever heard him and with a slight lisp, as if he was speaking with an obstacle in his mouth.

“Let you go? I don’t think so, Gorgeous!”

The kidnapper’s voice was smooth and steady, not at all what Stiles had been expecting.

He tensed, eyes frantically roaming the area to figure out the kidnapper’s possible exit strategies, but when he looked back at Peter the other man was shaking his head, nodding towards the window once more.

“You’re insane! You’ll never get away with this! You made a big mistake tonight, my mother is going to fucking kill you!”

Derek’s voice was calm but sharp, not scared at all, but the kidnapper’s laugh made Stiles’ blood freeze, the manic quality in it making him grip his gun tighter.

“Will she, now? Well, fuck her! She should have never turned me away! I was going to do this the right way, you know? From the moment I first saw you I knew you were going to be mine and I was going to do this properly! I was going to become a member of your pack and I was going to court you the way you deserve! She disrespected me though, so now I’m just going to take you! You are _mine_ and no one can stop me!”

"Fuck you! I’m not a thing you can own!” Derek spat, his voice filled with contempt.

The other man laughed, almost hysterically.

“Oh Gorgeous, but you are! You’re such a precious little thing! I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone like you! You guys are so fucking rare these days! And you’re so pretty, too, how lucky for me! Your smell, too, you’re so damn intoxicating, I can barely concentrate! I can’t wait to mount you, fill you the way you need to be filled! How old are you anyways? 22? 25? Older? How have you even managed until now? Haven’t you been feeling the need? Your body should be yearning for someone to breed it, fill you until you’re bursting with it! Well, you don’t have to wait any longer, my Gorgeous, I’m going to fuck you so good you’re going to be begging me for more!”

“Fuck you!” Derek repeated, sounding thoroughly disgusted.

“No, my precious little thing, _I’m_ going to fuck _you_! Fill you up until you can take no more, breed you so good that you’ll be pregnant within the hour!”

Stiles was in serious danger of whiplash when he jerked his head towards Peter, looking at Derek’s uncle incredulously.

 _What the fuck?_ he mouthed, frowning when Peter didn’t even blink and held up his finger to his lips once more.

“I’m going to breed you so good! Breed you until you’re big and round with my cubs! Breed you over and over, so that you’ll be pregnant for the rest of your life! I don’t need to become a member of your pack! We’re going to make a new pack! A strong pack! And you’re going to be a good little breeder wolf, Derek! You’re going to be swollen with my cubs all the time and you’re going to take my cock whenever I want you to! And you’ll love it so much! From the moment I breed you the first time, you’re going to want nothing else for the rest of your life! You were born for this! You’ll see!”

“You get that filthy thing anywhere near me and I’ll bite it off!” Derek growled, sounding like he was struggling against something.

“I don’t think so, Gorgeous! In fact, I’m going to breed you right now! I can smell it on you! You’re ready for me! You want it as much as I do, I can see it in your eyes! Don’t fight it Gorgeous, we’re going to make a strong cub tonight! I’m going to fuck you so damn good!”

“ _No!_ ” Derek screamed, followed by a sharp slap and a yelp of pain.

Stiles jumped up, no longer caring what Peter had to say, but Peter actually beat him to it, letting out a terrifying roar as he jumped through the broken window.

Stiles darted to the right, opting for the cabin’s door instead of injuring himself on the remaining sharp edges of the glass.

He barged through the door, gun held high, only to come to a full stop, his eyes widening in shock.

Derek was bound to a chair with thick ropes, dusted in some sort of blue powder, a trickle of blood running down his forehead.

He seemed unharmed otherwise, but that wasn’t what Stiles was focusing on anyways, because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Derek’s face.

Derek’s face was no longer the one he had come to love.

Instead, Derek’s face was as if it had come straight out of a horror tale, his eyes flashing amber and his teeth impossibly long, his distinctive eyebrows nowhere in sight and sharp ridges all over his nose and forehead.

A roar sounded through the cabin and Stiles’ gaze drifted towards Peter and the kidnapper, his knees weakening when he realized that they, too, looked like they had stepped straight out of a child’s worst nightmare, snarling at each other through razor-sharp teeth and eyes flashing in that same unnatural color.

“What the …” Stiles began, taking a step back and stumbling over an overturned chair, almost face planting himself.

He managed to catch his balance but the noise had caught the attention of the kidnapper, who was now advancing towards him, growling and snarling.

“Stiles! Run!” Peter yelled, but Stiles had already drawn his gun, aiming straight at the kidnapper’s knee and pulling the trigger.

The gun went off, the noised deafening, but the guy wasn’t even slowing down, his roar ear-splitting as he raised his arm to swipe at him with … where those claws?

Stiles grabbed the chair, holding it up just in time for the monster’s hand to connect with the wood and slice right through it, the force of it pushing Stiles backwards and making him connect with the floor at last.

The kidnapper advanced again, towering over him, his spit hitting Stiles’ face as he snarled once more.

Another roar rang through the cabin, then, followed by the ugly sound of wood splintering, and then the kidnapper was yanked away from Stiles by none other than Derek.

Stiles raised his gun again but he couldn’t risk firing, not with Derek and the kidnapper rolling around on the floor, slashing and clawing at each other.

“Derek! Get away from him!” Stiles yelled, but his voice was drowned out by the most terrifying and furious roar yet, coming from outside the cabin.

A second later, a large black wolf burst through the door, taking it off its hinges in the process.

The wolf went straight for the kidnapper, its giant maw opening and closing, teeth catching and tearing.

There was a gurgling sound then, and Stiles tore his gaze away from the carnage, his eyes searching for Derek and his breath punching out of him when he noticed him lying on the floor, curled in on himself and breathing heavily.

Stiles tried to stand up, letting out a sharp cry when he noticed that he’d twisted his ankle during the fall.

He dropped to his knees instead, crawling over to Derek as quickly as he could, mindful not to get too close to the clearly rabid wolf.

“Derek! Oh my god, Derek! Are you okay?”

There was a fresh gash on Derek’s face, right under his eye, and his wrists were bloody and bruised, the skin torn where he’d struggled out of the bonds that had held him. His shirt was cut in multiple places and Stiles gasped loudly when he noticed a large wound on his former lover’s abdomen.

“Fuck! Derek! Don’t move! Wait, I’ll put pressure on this, just don’t move, okay? You’re going to be fine, I promise!”

He pulled off his hoodie and pressed it against Derek’s stomach, hoping to stop the flow of blood that way.

Derek let out a pained groan and Stiles didn’t think as he bent down and pressed soft kisses all over Derek’s face, desperate to comfort him.

“I’m sorry! I’m so fucking sorry! You’re going to be fine, you hear me! You’re going to be completely fine!” he whispered, resting his forehead against Derek’s.

“Stiles!” Derek gasped and the movement made the ridges on his forehead shift underneath Stiles’ own, the alien sensation finally penetrating though Stiles’ fear.

Stiles jerked back, only to quickly reapply pressure to Derek’s abdomen.

“Derek! I … Derek?” he finally managed, staring down at him.

Derek stared back, his eyes glowing amber gold and his sharp fangs glistening in the dim light.

“I … what is happening right now?” Stiles continued, feeling helpless, confused, and pumped full of adrenalin that was making him a little dizzy, now that the crisis had passed.

Derek closed his eyes, a broken sigh escaping his lips, and when he opened them again they were hazel, his face contorting and shifting right in front of Stiles’ eyes.

“Hi,” Derek said softly, his hands coming to rest on Stiles’ shaking ones and slowly peeling them away.

“Derek, no, you have to …”

“I’m fine. See?” Derek said, holding up the bloody mess of Stiles’ hoodie to reveal that the wound in his stomach had closed, though the flesh was still looking tender and pink.

“You … you’re fine! Huh. Wait! Where did the wolf go? When did Talia get here? Holy shit, why is your mom naked? Why did that guy keep talking about how he was going to knock you up? What kind of drugs was he on? Why does everyone have glowing eyes? Where the hell did your eyebrows go? What the fuck is happening right now?”

“I … Mom? _Please_!” Derek said quietly, desperately, looking at his mother instead of Stiles.

Stiles was very studiously not looking at Mrs. Hale, who was standing at the center of the cabin and appeared to be very naked and very bloody, her eyes flashing a deep red and making her look like she was a demon who’d just escaped from hell.

Talia Hale let out a deep sigh in return, her footsteps impossibly light as she approached them.

She grasped Stiles’ shoulder and squeezed tightly, her voice filled with more warm emotion than Stiles had ever heard from her.

“Thank you for rushing out here to save my son, Stiles! You were ready to risk your life for him and I’ll always be grateful!”

She squeezed his shoulder again, a little painfully this time.

“That being said, I think it’s about time you and I have a talk.”

 

 

===============

 

“Werewolves.”

Stiles’ voice was flat as he sat down his mug of tea, which Derek’s father had insisted upon the moment Talia had ushered a still dumbstruck Stiles into the living room of her home a little over an hour ago.

“Werewolves,” he repeated, forcing himself to look at Talia’s burning red eyes before glancing at the other occupants of the room.

His eyes passed over a pale Derek, his concerned father, a frazzled looking Cora, a teary-eyed Laura, and Peter, who was back to his usual smug self, even though he kept glancing at Derek with fondness and concern when he thought no one was looking.

Stiles had no doubt that the rest of the large Hale family was currently standing in the hallway and eavesdropping – which they could, apparently, because they were fucking _werewolves_ – but he was fiercely glad Talia had decided that this was going to be a small affair.

After all, the less people who were there to witness his descent into insanity, the better.

“Yes, Stiles. We’re werewolves,” Talia repeated patiently, letting her eyes change back to hazel.

“Werewolves,” Stiles said for the third time, clearing his throat against the sudden dryness.

“Just to be clear though, you guys aren’t some fanatical werewolf _cult_ , right?”

Peter snorted, Derek looked pained, and Talia sighed, even though her lips were twitching.

“No Stiles. But I understand that at least half of the town thinks we’re part of a cult. I must admit though that people steering clear of us because they think we’re some sort of cult has made it a whole lot easier to hide what we truly are.”

She smiled at him, but there was no warmth in her eyes.

“I know what you’re thinking Stiles and I would ask you not to blame Derek. The only reason he kept you in the dark was because I ordered him to. He asked me for permission to let you in on our secret many months ago, but I had to be sure you could be trusted. Our lives are constantly in danger and placing our secret into the wrong hands could devastate my pack.”

“Danger? I don’t know if you noticed, but you just tore a guy apart with your teeth! What kind of danger could you possible be in? Hell, you _are_ the danger! Uh … no offense.”

Talia didn’t flinch, even as she grasped Derek’s shoulder when her son let out a pained sound.

“Believe me Stiles, I took no pleasure in having to kill him. But yes, a feral Omega is only one of the many dangers that we face, even though we are technically apex predators. There are old families whose entire purpose in life is to hunt us down like animals and there are other many other supernatural creatures constantly attacking our territory and threatening the humans in town. My family has dedicated itself to protecting Beacon Hills for generations now, but on the few occasions that humans found out about us, they always tried to kill us. We do not blame them – humans are easily terrified of things they cannot comprehend and violence is a natural response. However, that is why we have to keep our existence a secret from them. As long as they don’t know we exist, they don’t bother us. As long as they don’t bother us, we are free to protect the town the way in which it needs to be protected.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes, cocking his head to the side inquisitively.

“You make it sound like Beacon Hills is constantly under attack by monsters! How come no one has ever seen these monsters, then? I work at the station, surely we would have noticed suspicious activity across town at some point!”

Peter cleared his throat, holding up his claws.

“You haven’t seen these monsters because my family is really good at protecting this place! Also, no offense, but humans are pathetically oblivious when it comes to things they don’t understand. Did you notice the vampire coven traveling through the territory five weeks ago? No, because we took care of it before they could take a snack for the road! Did you notice the warlock creeping across town before Christmas and looking for virgin sacrifices? No, because we took that pervert down the moment he set foot across the city limits! Did you notice the carnivorous pixie invasion last year that decimated the local bunny population before we could put a stop to it? No! Besides, with all due respect, Stiles, the human police force is barely capable when it comes to dealing with human criminals. It’s no wonder you didn’t notice any of the supernatural shenanigans.”

“Hey! I resent that! Also, I _did_ notice that dead bunnies were popping up all over the forest last year!” Stiles snapped, his head reeling with all the new information.

“He did. He’s not like other humans,” Derek said quietly, avoiding Stiles’ gaze when Stiles turned to look at him.

Stiles’ heart clenched, but he swallowed down his hurt and confusion, turning back towards Talia.

“Okay. So you’re a pack of werewolves that protects Beacon Hills and you’re keeping it a secret because otherwise the good people in town would show up here with torches and pitchforks. I get that, I guess. What about that guy earlier though? He was a werewolf, too, right? And what does feral Omega mean?

Talia’s expression turned thunderous, red once more flashing in her eyes as her grip on Derek’s arm tightened.

“Werewolves are dependent on pack bonds, regardless of whether they are an Alpha like me or Betas like the rest of my family. If a werewolf loses their pack, they become Omegas and very often their minds unravel, turning them feral before they have a chance to find a new pack. Most of the time, werewolves become Omegas because their packs were slaughtered, but every now and then a Beta is cast out of a pack and becomes an Omega that way. That’s what happened to the Omega who kidnapped Derek.”

She turned towards her son, her expression deeply apologetic.

“I finally got a hold of his former Alpha this morning, before Peter called to tell us you had been taken. I’m so, so sorry my love. We should have placed you under protection until we knew for sure he had left the territory. I knew he wasn’t a good man, but I had no idea just how bad he was until I spoke to Renee.”

“What did he do, Mom?” Derek asked, wrapping his arm around Cora when she let out a distressed sound.

Talia’s eyes narrowed, her voice grim when she answered.

“Their pack lives on the edge of a town and sparsely interacts with the humans there, similarly to how we do it. To avoid suspicions, the pack hosts a summer celebration every year and all town people are invited. Apparently he slipped some form of mind-altering aphrodisiac into a human girl’s beer bottle during the night and got caught as he was dragging her into the barn. He denied everything and claimed that he’d noticed her acting strangely and wanted to get her somewhere safe so she could sleep it off, but the Alpha saw right through his lies. She wasn’t going to tolerate sexual assault in her pack, so she cast him out.”

“Excuse me?” Stiles interrupted, momentarily forgetting the situation.

“Why the hell did she not call the cops? That fucker should have gotten a trial! Or at least a couple of nights in jail!”

Talia snorted, shaking her head.

“Putting a werewolf in a human jail is like putting a dog into a papier-mâché house. He would have broken out easily. Since he didn’t actually go through with it, she felt that banishing him from her pack was punishment enough.”

“That … is spectacularly bad decision making,” Stiles said grimly and after a moment of silence Talia nodded, letting out a sigh.

“Yes. Yes it was. Breaking the pack bonds only made his predatory urges worse and took away most of his control. He realized he was slipping, so he came here to request admittance into our pack and told me his pack had cast him out over a grievous misunderstanding. He didn’t tell me the true story, of course, but he made up something that was similar enough for me not to catch him on his lies. I had a bad feeling, however, so I was going to make my decision after talking to his former Alpha.”

She looked at her son, smiling sadly.

“Then Derek walked into the room and when the Omega noticed what he is, he … his reaction made it clear to me that I was never ever going to let him near my son again. So I sent him away. My siblings tracked him until he left the territory, but I should have been expecting him to come back.”

“And what _is_ Derek, exactly? The guy kept talking about … breeding him? But that’s ridiculous, right?”

“I’m a breeder.”

Derek’s voice was firm, even though his hands were shaking and he couldn’t quite bring himself to look at Stiles.

Talia looked at him sharply but Derek shrugged, bitterness in his eyes.

“He might as well know everything, Mom,” Derek said, finally looking at Stiles and inhaling deeply.

“I’m a breeder. That means I can become pregnant, even though I’m male. It’s a very rare condition, even among werewolves, and it only happens among born wolves. During medieval times, breeders were considered sacred and their children were said to have extraordinary powers. Today we know that’s completely ridiculous, of course. The child of a breeder is in no way different from a child born of a woman, but some wolves still believe that having a baby with a breeder will advance their standing in a pack. The Omega took me because he wanted to force me to birth an entire pack of super wolves for him,” Derek explained, his voice getting sharper towards the end.

“That is fucked up!” Stiles exclaimed, wincing when all members of the Hale family glared at him and Derek visibly flinched backwards.

“Holy shit, no! I just meant it’s fucked up that this guy wanted to keep you as a broodmare and rape you for the rest of your life! You know what Mama Hale? I get it! I would have torn him apart, too! I didn’t mean it’s fucked up that you’re a breeder, obviously! You were born that way, so it’s just another part that makes you the special and amazing person you are, right? Wait! Does that mean I could have gotten you pregnant? Hold on, holy shit! Is _that_ why you never …”

“Can we not talk about this in front of my parents? Please?” Derek said quickly, his cheeks burning. He looked down, his claws digging into his thighs, and he looked so uncomfortable and miserable that Stiles clamped his mouth shut instantly, feeling horrible.

“Sis, I think these boys need some alone-time to talk things out. Something they should have done a long time ago! Don’t you agree, Alpha-dearest?”

Peter’s voice was charming but steely underneath, leaving no room for argument.

Talia looked like she very much didn’t agree, but she got up nevertheless, bending over and whispering something to Derek before she kissed the top of his head.

Stiles forced himself to stay calm when the door had shut behind Derek’s family, leaving them alone in uncomfortable silence.

“Peter did that on purpose, didn’t he? Taking me to the cabin even though your mother could have clearly taken care of this on her own and putting me in a situation where it was impossible for me not to find out about you guys?”

Derek shrugged, looking unhappier than ever.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s quite fond of you, even though he does his best not to show it. He’s been arguing with Mom about letting you in on the secret for almost three months now and he was super pissed when we broke up.”

Stiles winced, the reminder as painful as ever.

“Yeah. About that. I …”

“I wanted to tell you so many times!” Derek exclaimed all of a sudden, interrupting Stiles and stopping him in his tracks.

“I swear! I wanted you to be a real part of the family! I knew you could handle it from the moment we first got together! If you hadn’t been a deputy, I might have been able to convince Mom sooner, but she ordered me to keep it a secret until she felt certain that you wouldn’t betray us. You had access to weapons and she just … she needed to know you could be trusted one hundred percent. She’s not only my mother, she’s also my _Alpha_ , and I just … I couldn’t go against her order, no matter how much I wanted to!”

“Derek, I …” Stiles began, trying to get a word in, but a dam seemed to have broken inside Derek, spilling out all the things he’d kept bottled up.

“I _hated_ having to keep that part of who I am from you! I hated that I couldn’t let you inside my loft because you might have gotten suspicious at some of the wolf things I keep there! I fucking hated that I couldn’t take your pain away when you got hurt during that one domestic violence call two months ago, even though my werewolf healing would have absorbed your pain easily! You kept telling me all of these things about your family, your childhood, you shared so much with me, but I couldn’t share my real life with you! It made me feel sick to my stomach that I had to keep you at a distance! I trust you with my life, Stiles, but I just wasn’t allowed to tell you! You made me feel so happy, so loved, and I just … I couldn’t give back the way I wanted to. The way I _needed_ to!”

Derek took a deep breath, as if to steel himself.

“I know that whole issue with the sex wasn’t what was truly bothering you. I’m not stupid, Stiles. I know that the real issue was that you thought I didn’t trust you and that’s why I wasn’t letting you do that to me. And I wanted to, god, believe me, I wanted you to fuck me so badly! And when you finally did … you made me feel things I never felt before in my life, that one night when you were a little too drunk and I wanted it too much to be able to say no any longer. I was so scared though. After.”

He wiped a hand across his face, looking even more upset than before.

“Breeder wolves are insanely fertile, you know? That’s why our lives were often in danger back when we were seen as a prize and packs kept getting attacked by other packs trying to take their breeders. I knew I couldn’t bottom again as long as you didn’t know I was a werewolf. And I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t want to have to lie about that, too. I mean, I clearly wanted it; it must have been obvious from space that night! You definitely knew I wanted it, even before we did it! I just didn’t know how to explain that I wanted to but I just couldn’t in a way that would make sense to you, so I just … tried to avoid it. And when you forced the issue I panicked and … well … you know what happened then.” 

“But … condoms! We used a condom that night!” Stiles protested, finally getting a word in, but Derek just scoffed, patting his belly with a grimace.

"Condoms work most of the time, yes, but they also break, especially when people are drunk and clumsy about it! If the condom had broken that night I would be pregnant right now for sure! We don’t have a cycle like women do, we just … we get pregnant all the damn time, whether we want to or not!”

He sighed, looking at Stiles with a tired expression.

“Come to think of it, you must wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to mate with a breeder. Werewolves mate for life, you know, and back when there weren’t any condoms people who mated with breeders better had to be committed to having at least three dozen children! Maybe even more, _that’s_ how ridiculously fertile we are! I couldn’t risk it, not as long as you were unaware of what I am. Hell, what my family is! Can you imagine what would have happened if I’d let you top me and gotten pregnant _before_ telling you I’m a werewolf? How would you have reacted then?”

Stiles blinked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I tried to make out with your shifted face earlier and I _still_ haven’t fainted in shock, even though your mother rearranged my entire understanding of reality a couple of minutes ago. I dare say I wouldn’t have grabbed a pitchfork or set you on fire!” he replied, a bit sharper than he had intended.

Derek winced, looking at him with a mournful expression.

“I know! That’s what I meant earlier. I’ve always known you would be able to handle it. I couldn’t convince my mother though, and I ruined everything!”

Stiles shook his head, getting up and walking towards the couch on which Derek was sitting, searching his face for confirmation before he sat down next to him.

“Don’t be an idiot. You didn’t ruin anything. I mean … yeah, you could have just told me right away that you didn’t feel comfortable bottoming and it would have never turned into the big deal that it ended up being, but I’m actually pretty sure that I messed up way more than you did! If I understood everything correctly, an Alpha order is like an unbreakable vow to you guys, right? So you couldn’t have told me your secret, even though you wanted to. I shouldn’t have been pushing so much. It was clear as day that something was wrong and instead of waiting for you to tell me and respecting your boundaries I pushed and pushed and then everything just went to shit!”

“We’re not wizards, Harry, going against an Alpha’s order doesn’t mean instant death,” Derek muttered, a small smile on his face when he looked at Stiles.

“Well, yeah, obviously, I’m pretty sure your mom didn’t want to tell me about you being a breeder quite yet and you went and did it anyway. Not the point though, I wasn’t done listing everything I did wrong yet. I should have never coaxed you into bottoming for me that night. I knew it was a sensitive issue and I knew we should have talked about it way before, but I just wanted you so badly and I ignored everything I’d ever learned about communication and consent. That was wrong of me. And telling you I love you for the first time right after was some seriously fucked up manipulative bullshit! I’ve felt sick about it ever since, that’s how bad it was.”

“It wasn’t manipulative bullshit. You meant it. I could hear that in your heartbeat,” Derek said, hesitating only briefly before he took Stiles’ hand in his, his grip lax, like he wanted to make it clear that Stiles could pull away at any moment.

“I said it back, did you know that? I told you after you’d fallen asleep in my arms that night. I felt so safe with you, so close to you, so protected by you. Do you know how crazy that sounds to a born wolf? That I’d feel so protected by a human? I did though, and I knew it was bad, because I was keeping so many things from you and it was going to ruin everything eventually.”

“You loved me?” Stiles asked as calmly as he could, squeezing Derek’s hand and looking at him intently.

“I love you. I still do. How couldn’t I? You were going to fight a feral Omega for me! You tried to comfort me even though I was shifted and must have looked like your worst nightmare from childhood! You’re amazing, Stiles! And I’m sorry I let you doubt my love for you for so long. I know it’s probably too late, but I just … I wanted you to know.”

Stiles exhaled, feeling like a large chunk of the grief that had been pressing down on him for a month was finally lifting off his chest.

“It’s not too late, you dum-dum. I still love, you, too. Don’t get me wrong, you really hurt me when you just walked out on me without even trying to fight for us, but I understand why you did it now. Fighting for us would have meant exposing your secret, and I get why you felt you couldn’t. I still want to make this work though. Granted, it’s probably going to take a while until I’ve wrapped my head around all of this, but I love you and I know we can work through this together.”

He let out a soft laugh, his thumb stroking gentle circles over the back of Derek’s hand.

“And don’t you worry about the sex anymore, because I am totally one-hundred percent fine with bottoming until we’re ready for babies. I mean, our communication skills really suck right now and that’s no foundation for successful parenting, so yeah, we definitely need to work on that first before we have a litter of precious babies. Wait, was that offensive? Are you okay with me making dog jokes in general? Not going to lie, that’s a thing that’ll happen, because the fact that you’re so into sniffing my crotch makes perfect sense now! Wait, do you even _want_ to have kids? And if so, do you want to have them with me? I mean, being a breeder doesn’t mean I expect you to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen for the rest of your life! Also, I’m pretty sure my attention span and clumsiness is hereditary and that might be a disastrous combination when mixed with werewolf super-speed DNA! Am I freaking you out right now? Is it too early to talk about kids yet? It _is_ too early, right, I should just …uhmph.”

Derek’s lips on his were both like a balm and like a fire, soothing an ache that had been festering for far too long and sending sparks of electricity through his entire body.

Stiles kissed back just as eagerly, gripping fistfuls of Derek’s shirt as if to keep him from running away.

Derek’s arms wound around his back and pulled him in, almost crushing him in his intensity and giving Stiles a glimpse of how much he must have been holding back all these months.

Werewolf strength.

Stiles could definitely get used to that.

They were both breathing heavily when they separated and Stiles rested his forehead against Derek’s, inhaling his familiar scent and not even trying to stop his goofy smile.

“It’s _way_ too early to talk about kids,” Derek confirmed, though his embrace tightened, letting Stiles know he wasn’t pushing him away.

“That being said, now that you know it’s a possibility we can … we can do it like that more often. With a condom, obviously, because if we don’t we might as well go and buy diapers in bulk right now. But if you understand there’s always going to be a tiny risk and you’re willing to accept the consequences with me if it does happen earlier than we want to ... then yeah, I’ll definitely bottom for you. If you want me to.”

“Very much!” Stiles said immediately, smiling a little sheepishly.

“Don’t think I just want you for your glorious butt though. You’re so much more than your butt. Even if it _is_ the most delicious and squeezable butt I’ve ever had the pleasure of … wait, let me start again. I love you. I love everything about you. What we do in bed is not going to change that, because knowing that you do trust me like that is all I truly need. You will have to stop wearing your glasses in bed though. I mean, they’re killing me in all the good ways, but you don’t really need them, do you?”

“Nah. I just thought they would make me blend in better as a librarian,” Derek said, smiling a little shyly.

“If you were going for a sex on a stick librarian then yeah, they made you blend in alright,” Stiles declared with feeling.

“Such a romantic,” Derek teased gently, placing a soft kiss on Stiles’ forehead.

When he pulled back, his eyes were shining with warmth, even though he looked a bit nervous.

“I can imagine us having kids at one point though. Not now, definitely not now, but maybe in a couple of years? If that’s something you want to do with me, I mean. You don’t have to decide right now, by the way, I know it’s probably super weird for you to even imagine.”

“It is weird. Hella weird, actually,” Stiles confirmed, pulling back a bit so he could place one palm against Derek’s muscular stomach, cupping Derek’s cheek with the other.

“I mean, I saw _Junior_ when I was little and that was just the biggest nonsense ever! I had nightmares after, I swear to god! I don’t think it would be nonsense if it were you though. Does that make sense? I’ll need time to come to terms with it, obviously, but if it happens one day I think … no, I _know_ it’s going to be the best thing to have ever happened to me!”

Derek smiled fondly, placing his own hand over Stiles’.

“You don’t have to say that. I know it’ll take some time getting used to. Even I struggled with it for a while during puberty, when I realized that I was the only man in the pack who’d ever get to experience it. Knowing that you’re different from everyone else isn’t fun for anyone, not even for werewolves, who are already different from almost everyone else by nature. I know you’re still a little in shock about everything though, so I’m not going to hold you to anything you say right now.”

“That’s … that’s probably a good thing, yeah,” Stiles agreed, though he didn’t pull his hand away from Derek’s belly.

“Still love you though. You can definitely hold me to that!”

 

 

==============

 

_Four Years Later_

“Have you seen my beach towel, Mr. Hale-Stilinski?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s still in the suitcase because you didn’t bother to unpack when we got here, Mr. Hale-Stilinski.”

“Don’t give me those eyebrows Mr. Hale-Stilinski, I don’t remember you complaining about my priorities earlier!”

“Indeed I did not, Mr. Hale-Stilinski, but while you were busy snoring in post-coital bliss, I actually went and unpacked my suitcase, which means that _I’m_ ready to go to the beach and _you_ haven’t even changed into your swim trunks yet.”

“Are you complaining about the view, Mr. Hale-Stilinski?”

“Actually, yeah, Mr. Hale-Stilinski, because instead of taking a romantic stroll on the beach and swimming in the ocean with my new husband, I’m currently looking at him standing buck-naked in the middle of a ridiculous expensive honeymoon suit while glaring at the suitcase explosion all over the floor.”

“You wound me, Mr. Hale-Stilinski, me being buck-naked used to be your favorite view of all!”

“I do believe you are delusional, Mr. Hale-Stilinski. This is going to get old eventually, isn’t it?”

“Never!” Stiles declared, beaming from ear to ear as he stepped out of the mess of clothing on the floor and crossed the distance between him and Derek with three long strides, wrapping him up in a firm embrace.

“I finally put a ring on it and everyone’s going to know it!”

“Clearly. You told everyone at the airport we were headed for our honeymoon even though the TSA agents emphatically didn’t care one bit _and_ you didn’t stop touching me all during the flight. I was starting to seriously be afraid the flight attendant was going to have us arrested for inappropriate behavior as soon as we touched down.”

“Psssh, she was just jealous because I managed to snag myself such a handsome husband! Also, we were fully clothed and I kept 90 percent of my body on my own seat at all times. She had no idea what my right hand was doing under that blanket!”

“That’s probably a good thing, too. Would have been kind of hard to explain otherwise,” Derek chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to Stiles’ lips.

“Hard indeed!” Stiles leered, laughing when Derek groaned in exaggerated fashion.

“You’re a menace, I don’t know why I married you. Now come on, find that towel and your swim trunks and let’s get going. I already packed the sunscreen and your sunglasses.”

“Did you pack water and snacks? You know you’re going to get grumpy without your afternoon snack!”

Derek rolled his eyes fondly, holding up a zip-lock bag with crackers and baby carrots.

“You bet I packed this ridiculously bland and healthy snack that you made me buy the moment we touched Mexican soil.”

“Don’t be a hater, Derek, I’m only looking out for you. Why, you may ask? Firstly, because I love you and want you to be happy and healthy always, and secondly because your mother sat me down and told me I’d have to answer to her if anything happened to you on this trip. You know she almost made me cancel the entire thing, right?”

“And I love that you’re not terrified of her at all and stood your ground,” Derek said drily, chuckling when Stiles scoffed.

“Oh I’m terrified of her alright. She even used her Alpha eyes and I know that shouldn’t have an effect on me, technically, but she still makes me almost piss my pants whenever she does. I get it though. Hell, _I_ was ready to cancel the trip until Deaton sat me down and gave me a long lecture, mostly focused on the many ways in which I was being an overprotective idiot.”

“You haven’t been _that_ bad,” Derek mused, his eyes twinkling, and Stiles rolled his eyes dramatically, letting out a triumphant sound when he located his trunks.

“Ha! There they are! Also, you’re a terrible liar my love, I know I’ve been a bit overbearing these past couple of weeks. It’s only going to get worse though. You understand that right? I mean, I’ll _try_ to control it, but the success rate is probably going to be 50/50. And that’s me being optimistic, because it’s highly likely that you’ll be ready to divorce me by no later than Christmas.”

“Well, that means we have three more months of wedded bliss before I will send you packing. Better make the most of it then,” Derek replied cheerfully, bending down and fishing Stiles’ beach towel out of the pile with a grin.

“Here you go, Mr. Hale-Stilinski,” he said, holding out the towel.

Stiles made a grab for it and pulled Derek in close at the same time, once more wrapping his arms around him and kissing him.

“You’re feeling okay though, right? We’ve been up since five this morning and it took us almost seven hours of travel to get here. If you want to take it easy today and rest that’s completely fine with me.”

Derek laughed softly, kissing Stiles’ nose.

“I’m fine. I promise. I have felt really good for almost a week, _plus_ I took a little nap on the plane. I’m good to go whenever you are.”

Stiles smiled sheepishly, his hands sliding down Derek’s waist until his thumbs were resting against the soft rounding of his husband’s belly, gently caressing the firm skin.

“I love you. Have I told you how much I love you today?”

“Multiple times, up to and involving calls to a deity when I was blowing you earlier,” Derek replied drily, smirking when Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Too sappy? Again?”

“Unbearably so. Though not as bad as during the week leading up to our our wedding, when I was still puking my guts out all the time and you told me you loved me every five minutes because you were feeling guilty and thought I was going to puke during the entire ceremony, too,” Derek answered.

Stiles groaned, burying his face against Derek’s neck.

“In hindsight, I should have just accepted that breeders are ridiculously fertile and waited to trash the condoms until _after_ the wedding. Then again, I would have missed out on your grandmother’s scandalized expression of total outrage when she realized she was going to have to let out your suit the day before the wedding. I don’t think I would have survived the loss.”

“It was pretty memorable,” Derek agreed, looking down and cupping his little belly with a gentle smile.

“Luckily for us, I only just got out of my first trimester and our little one is still small enough for me to be able to walk around in my swim trunks on the beach without anyone feeling compelled to call _Oprah._ Speaking of swim trunks, how about you finally put on yours and we can get there before the sun goes down.”

“Bossy wolf!” Stiles teased, laughing out loud when Derek rolled his eyes and grabbed the room-key and his bag, marching out of the door with a large smile.

Stiles quickly pulled on his trunks and grabbed his towel, hurrying after his husband.

After he’d pulled the door shut behind him he turned to see Derek standing at the edge of the little bungalow’s patio, taking advantage of the fact that the honeymoon bungalow was a little farther away from the main hotel to provide privacy to newlyweds.

His skin was gleaming in the sunlight, little freckles already appearing on his nose, and he’d tilted his head, eyes closed and a smile on his lips as he basked in the warmth of the sun.

Then, Stiles’ gaze wandered down to his husband’s middle, the gentle curve that was going to be barely noticeable and unremarkable to any bystander, but that already meant the entire world to Stiles.

Stiles Hale-Stilinski had fallen in love with Derek Hale-Stilinski on a Tuesday and he’d loved him every day since.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and never fail to make my day :).


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